Stepping Into Ailey’s Directorial Shoes : Judith Jamison drops everything--including plans for her own company--to carry his mantle

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That ad might describe the job Judith Jamison inherited--and her qualifications--when Alvin Ailey died 10 months ago. And now with his Dance Theatre about to perform in Los Angeles for the first time without its founder, the moment of truth is here.

For most people who are driving, ambitious and energetic, running one dance company would seem to be enough. But Jamison has a second agenda, and a third.

That’s why the new director of Ailey Dance Theatre has dropped everything--the overseeing of both her own 18-month-old Jamison Project and her late mentor’s company--to fly for a single day to Los Angeles.

“I want America to be proud of the cultural advent he gave it,” she says, referring to Mayor Tom Bradley’s soon-to-be-read proclamation naming a day in the late choreographer’s honor. “All of us (dancers) are consciously committed to speaking to that beautiful talent. We’re proud that his light shines through, that it touches hearts and souls all over the world.”

Jamison may sound like she’s delivering the gospel but here in her hotel, tucked on a winding road just above Sunset Strip, the one-time Ailey star fields phone calls and gears up for the Dance Gallery Guild luncheon at which she will be the featured guest.

“Alvin set the example we want to live by,” Jamison says, stretching her long legs under the coffee table of a suite with full Hollywood view. “And that’s how I’m trying to keep his spirit alive. He gave something to everyone, different things to each person. So that at the memorial service (aired on PBS Jan. 6) I could look around and see many strange faces, yet realize he had personal connections to them all.”

The statuesque dancer, as dramatically lithe as ever, animates her points with hand gestures and arm extensions--geometry in motion. She doesn’t sit on the couch so much as maneuver around it. In fact, she seizes the situation, conducting the interview herself.

And when the subject of the Ailey’s five-day Wiltern engagement comes up--it opens Tuesday with a program of excerpts from the late choreographer’s oeuvre --she campaigns vigorously. One gets the feeling that whatever the company founder did sotto voce , his successor would communicate through a megaphone. With pride and love.

Nothing will really change, Jamison vows. But now the original ideals stand to be amplified. The notion of what a classic is, for instance, and that Ailey forged a genre with historical consequences.

“For the sake of modesty Alvin may not have wanted to brag about his contribution. But when you look at it he created true American icons with ‘Revelations’ and ‘Cry.’ ”

In effect, the Eurocentric tradition may have “Swan Lake” and “Nutcracker,” she points out, but God bless the country that’s got its own--especially when that “creation can touch everyone and have a universal appeal. And it’s not just an extraordinary repertory, but the dancers, well. . . . Do people know that Dudley Williams is marking 27 years with the company and he’s still re-inventing himself?”

For Jamison, who grew up listening to her parents preach a sermon similar to Ailey’s--”be committed, be prepared, love what you do and keep your humor”--the present course is nothing exceptional.

“Since babyhood I’ve always evolved from one thing to another. My mother gave me ballet lessons at 6 as part of her enthusiasm for the arts and for life. We went to museums, to the theater. While her own talent was untapped she worked for church causes.”

But the single most important message Jamison learned back in her native Philadelphia had to do with allowing one’s individuality to bloom. That, she says, is the very trait Ailey treasured in her and fostered.

“Who else looks like me?” she asks, with a touch of self-mockery, tracing her 5-foot-10 height and cap-close coif (“Hair that simply doesn’t grow”). Only a mentor with great freedom of imagination could have encouraged her to pursue a career in dance, she insists.

“And when I retreated to the country (after retiring from the Ailey company a decade ago and then playing “Sophisticated Ladies” on Broadway for two years), it was Alvin who got after me to teach some of his classes. It was Alvin who gave me the studio space and told me to try doing choreography.

“It was uncanny how he knew what each person needed--even those not in his immediate view.”

After the Jamison Project has fulfilled remaining engagements, it will disband, with half the members joining Ailey. (“It was an agonizing decision, since I couldn’t take them all.”)

Less than a year ago Jamison could be heard saying: “I know that I can’t handle more than a dozen dancers.” Now she is charged with running the affairs of 28, in addition to the 12 in the Jamison Project. What does that say about change?

“It says live and learn,” Jamison admits. “In 1983 I also told Alvin that I’d never make dances. And look what happened.”

But for the time being, choreography is not a major focus. The director leaves that to others--such as Garth Fagan and Ulysses Dove, who, she says, represent a new wave. It is that combination of the classic and the novel “that make up our vision.”

What’s more, the operative word as Jamison sees it is expansion rather than change.

“As in our summer camps for what we call ‘at-risk’ kids. Alvin started the idea in Kansas City where the company has a residency and takes along the junior ensemble. It’s tied up with the idea of education outreach--teaching disadvantaged kids the dignity of discipline and accomplishment.

“No matter what they may do later in life those values will shape a solid human being. That’s what we want to foster here, and nationally. Alvin (who developed here as a dancer/choreographer with Lester Horton) loved Los Angeles so. It’s only right to bring the program to this city.”

And how will Judith Jamison manage to realize her goal--as well as turn the fiscally troubled corner of her new responsibility, the Ailey company?

“That’s what I’ll talk about to Barbara Bain (Dance Gallery board president). After all, whoever has experienced this company will want to help it. Everyone’s a candidate to participate.”